Bush May Propose New US Space Mission

Expect a lot of heat and smoke, but not much in the way of substance when President Bush announces his new "bold agenda" for space exploration.

So says the Orlando Sentinel. NASA documents obtained by the newspaper, as well as interviews it's conducted, indicate the new agenda will look an awfully lot like the old one.

But it's designed to sound good. One internal NASA document written as a talking-points paper for the White House puts it like this:

"A house with no foundation falls, and a journey without a plan traps us in the wilderness. To move America and the world boldly into our greatest frontier we must build the foundations of mind, technology and experience. Without them, our journey into space would be only a visit. With them, we can stay. Our children will lead us, and their adventure will have no end."

But funding the "adventure" seems to be an adventure in itself. The FY 2004 NASA budget looks like the FY 2003 budget, expected to rise from $15.4 billion to $15.5 billion. The only manned programs on the drawing board are those that have been there for years -- the shuttle program (return to flight is expected in a little less than a year) and the ISS program.

"I don't think they have the courage to candidly characterize the present situation," says John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org. "Namely, that we have a precarious fingerhold in space. But we're not exactly sure where we're going to go next or when we're going to go there."

That's an observation shared by the people who investigated the Columbia shuttle disaster. The accident board said in its final report that how well a program is funded is a direct reflection of the importance placed on it.

"A strong indicator of the priority the national political leadership assigns to a federally funded activity is its budget," the report said. "During the past decade, neither the White House nor Congress has been interested in `a reinvigorated space program.'"

In other words, follow the money.

Board Chairman Harold Gehman told a Capitol Hill hearing on September 4th, "Visions without resources are just dreams."

New Moon Mission?

"We have lots of suggestions that are being made by members of the president's Cabinet and administrators, like Sean O'Keefe of NASA. And the president will make a decision," said White House chief of staff Andrew Card. "But I guarantee he will have a bold agenda for this country," Card said when asked about a possible new moon mission on the Sunday talk shows.

"The president understands that we do want to continue to explore space after the disaster with the space shuttle. The president said that we would not give up on space exploration," Card said on CNN's "Late Edition."

FMI: www.nasa.gov